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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Fitzgerald Conference on October 17

Who could not love a writing conference named for Fitzgerald? Here’s an excellent event to add to your calendar:

Fitzgerald Conference Offers Unique Opportunity for Writers

According to F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Action is Character.” Now, 113 years after the great American author’s birth, many writers will put their character in action by registering for 14th annual F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference in Rockville, Maryland. You can too.

The conference takes place on Saturday, October 17.

The Fitzgerald conference offers the unique opportunity for writers to hone their craft in top-notch workshops, and then listen to the masters who already have.

Julia Alvarez is this year’s honoree. Alvarez excels in multiple fields of writing: storybooks for children, young adult books, nonfiction, poetry — and most notably, novels. She is best known for her critically acclaimed novels How the García Girls Lost Their Accents and In the Time of the Butterflies. More recent fiction includes Return to Sender and Saving the World.

Azar Nafisi, best known for her national bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran: a memoir in books, will share her experiences teaching The Great Gatsby in Tehran.

Pulitzer-prize winner Henry Allen will moderate a panel discussion on Literary Border Crossings. The panel will include authors H.G. Carillo (Loosing my Espanish) and Olga Grushin (The Dream Life of Sukhanov).

In addition to talks from these masters, writers attending the conference will participate in writing workshops led by top-notch professionals, including editors of literary journals, authors of books, writing instructors, publishers, and others involved with the art and industry of writing. Workshop topics include short story, novel, poetry, screenplay adaptation, voice, writing for children, and more.

Adding flavor to this year’s international theme, coffee from Julia Alvarez’s own coffee farm in Dominican Republic has been generously donated by Vermont Coffee Company, and the lunch menu features a selection of international cuisine.

Learn more about the conference—and register now—at the conference website, where you can find a complete schedule of the day’s activities: www.peerlessrockville.org/FSF.